WARRINGTON Borough Council is making good progress on delivering services to its most vulnerable residents, according to the latest figures.
The authority is also pressing ahead with town centre regeneration and local schools are performing better than the regional or national average.
Cllr Hitesh Patel, the council’s lead member for personnel and communications, (pictured) said: “We still have plenty of work to do, but the improvements we are making are down to the efforts of council staff who are working hard to overcome the huge financial pressures we are facing, with the Government having cut a third of our budget since 2010.”
The good progress is revealed in the council’s latest quarterly performance report.
The report shows that 85.1 per cent of older people accessing the council’s re-ablement service were at home 91 days after their discharge from hospital in quarter 2, against a target of 83.5 per cent. Re-ablement is offered to patients where there is hope that they will be able to maintain or increase their independence.
Efforts to reduce the number of children in care are beginning to have an impact, with recent data showing the number of children coming into care in 2016/17 has reduced by 11 per cent on the previous year. The council is providing high levels of intervention for families at risk of breakdown to mitigate family problems before they reach the point of children being taken into care.
All but one of Warrington’s 71 primary schools are now either good or outstanding according to Ofsted. They are performing better than the previous year and better than the North West and England averages.
Almost 50 per cent of disadvantaged children achieved Reading, Writing and Maths (RWM), a four per cent increase on the previous year. Although this reflects a positive improvement, the percentage increase is not at the same accelerated rate as their peers and the council will work to close the achievement gap.
The council continues to make good progress on key economic investment projects and regeneration programmes across the borough. The “city centre” masterplan, centre link and stadium quarter are progressing. The new temporary market and multi storey car park are also now open and trading well.
Cllr Patel added: “We are making good progress on delivering services which support some of our most vulnerable residents, and I’m pleased to see that we are continuing to support investment in the town centre. I’m also heartened to see our schools performing beyond the North West and national average.”
